ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Remarks by Kirkuk Governor Mohammed Samaan Agha dismissing Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution exacerbate tensions and undermine local coexistence, the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) local organizational bureau said late Wednesday, after the governor described the mechanism regulating disputed territories as "the biggest strategic mistake" made by Iraq since 2003.
“The irresponsible remarks by the Governor of Kirkuk claiming that Article 140 of the constitution no longer exists effectively devalue and void the constitution itself,” the KDP said in a statement, describing the provision as “a correct, modern roadmap for resolving and eliminating issues in Kirkuk Governorate and other parts of Iraq.”
Article 140 of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution is the legal mechanism designed to resolve the administrative and territorial status of Iraq’s disputed internal boundaries - most notably Kirkuk, alongside parts of Nineveh, Diyala, and Salahaddin.
The constitutional roadmap set a December 31, 2007 deadline to normalize demography by compensating displaced Kurds and Turkmens while returning Ba'athist-era Arab settlers to their home provinces. It requires a neutral census and a local referendum to determine whether Kirkuk and other disputed areas join the Kurdistan Region or remain under Baghdad’s direct administration.
The KDP’s statement came after Samaan said during an interview aired by Iraqi state media on Tuesday that Turkmens “refused the Iraqi constitution because of that article at the time, as we believed these provisions would cause problems in the future.”
“We were proven right when the [Kurdish independence] referendum took place,” Samaan stated.
In response, the KDP said Samaan “knows very well that if the constitution ceases to exist, it means Iraq is emptied of its statehood and will cease to function as a state.”
“Such statements in no way serve the interests of the components and residents of Kirkuk; rather, they represent an inappropriate attempt to break harmony and brotherhood, fostering sedition and deepening problems,” the party added.
Kurdish political parties view Article 140 as a binding constitutional obligation and the sole legal framework to restore historical rights and determine Kirkuk's jurisdiction. The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that Article 140 remains legally valid until its objectives are fully implemented.
In September 2017, Kurdish authorities held an independence referendum in the Kurdistan Region and across parts of the disputed territories reclaimed from ISIS, with roughly 92 percent voting in favor of secession. Baghdad categorically rejected the vote, launching a military campaign on October 16 of that year to reestablish federal control over Kirkuk and other disputed areas.
“We opposed the referendum project,” Samaan said, adding that “the federal government entered [Kirkuk], enforced state authority, and imposed the law.”
Addressing the referendum mandated by Article 140, Samaan claimed that a vote had effectively already occurred, saying: “It happened, and I think the people and the state said what they had to say, and the issue is finished.”
Samaan was appointed as a temporary governor of Kirkuk in April, after Rebwar Taha from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) resigned based on a deal brokered between the Kurdish party, Samaan’s Iraqi Turkmen Front, and a number of Arab parties to govern the province.
Kirkuk is a multiethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, as well as an Assyrian minority. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of a brazen offensive by ISIS threatening the city.
